10 ready-made designs
Ornamental tattoo flash
Ornamental work treats the body as something to decorate rather than something to illustrate. Filigree, lace, scrollwork and jewellery forms — sternum pieces that hang like a pendant, cuffs that circle a wrist, chandelier shapes that fall from a collarbone. There is usually no subject at all, which is the point: the design exists to flatter the part of you it sits on.
What to know about ornamental work
- Symmetry is the whole effect, so placement has to be exact. A sternum or spine piece even slightly off-centre reads as a mistake in a way an off-centre rose never would.
- It is designed for one spot. Ornamental pieces are drawn around a specific area of the body, so moving a design from sternum to forearm usually means redrawing it rather than resizing it.
- Fine ornamental detail carries the same long-term risk as fine line. Dense filigree set close together softens over the years, so ask your artist to open the pattern up slightly more than the drawing suggests.
Where it sits best
Sternums, spines, the backs of hands, wrists and thighs — anywhere with a natural centre line or a shape worth framing. These are the placements the style was built for, and it rarely looks right anywhere else.